


In Enemy Territory

by evilwriter37



Series: Discord Whump Prompts [7]
Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Blood, Broken Bones, Fighting, Gen, Violence, Whump, hiccup!whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 10:57:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20929091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwriter37/pseuds/evilwriter37
Summary: Hiccup and Toothless go down in the middle of a fight. Can Hiccup manage to make an antidote for Dragon Root while injured and in the middle of Dragon Hunter territory?





	In Enemy Territory

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: wounded over enemy lines

Hiccup pressed his hand to his right side, his palm and fingers coming away red with blood. The wound hurt and left him half doubled-over. He and Toothless had been knocked from the sky by a Dragon Root arrow in the middle of fighting, and Hiccup had fallen from the saddle and hit a rock on the way down. It had scraped him up bad and probably cracked his ribs. His ankle had snapped and was left at an odd angle, so now he was limping. 

Toothless was worse for wear. He was dying. Hiccup knew now that Dragon Root could kill a Night Fury, but he also knew the antidote for it. 

The worse news was that he’d landed in Dragon Hunter territory. He and the Riders had been attacking one of the islands they’d taken, and now he was lost in the forest somewhere behind their lines. And it was night time, so no one had seen him go down. Surely his friends would notice in time, but for now, he was on his own. Sending out a signal would only alert the Dragon Hunters to his presence. They didn’t know he was here either. He couldn’t send a Terror Mail either, because it could easily be intercepted. He was on his own in this, on his own and wounded. 

“Come on, Toothless, we have to keep going.” Hiccup had to find a place to hide his friend, a place to let him rest while he worked on finding the ingredients for the antidote. The last time Toothless had been shot, Hiccup had had Dagur to help him support the dragon’s weight, but now Hiccup was using Toothless to help support his own. His friend’s legs appeared ready to give out on him. 

Toothless made an annoyed grumbling sound, but he managed to lead the way, which was good. Hiccup could hardly see in the forest. The night was without a moon, and the stars were hidden by the leaves and pine needles above.

Hiccup limped along with Toothless supporting him, and the two found their way to an outcropping of rock that could work as a hiding place. It had a ledge with space underneath that Toothless could fit into, and Hiccup could if he sat.

Which he did. He knew he needed to get working on the antidote, but he needed a moment to rest. His battered ribs were making breathing painful and tiring, and his ankle was flashing throbbing agony through his his leg and up to his hip. He wanted to cry out of the pure desperation of the situation, out of pain and tiredness, but he didn’t. Tears stung in his eyes only to be blinked away. He wouldn’t cry. There was work to be done. 

  
  


“We have to retreat!” Fishlegs called.

Astrid looked around her in frustration, knowing that he spoke the truth. But, there was something nagging at her. She hadn’t seen a flash of purple in a very long time, hadn’t heard the voice of their leader.

“Where’s Hiccup?!”

The other Dragon Riders were gathering for the retreat, and they looked around them in deepening concern. Hiccup wasn’t there.

A flaming boulder went flying at the assembled Riders, leaving them scattering. Astrid looked around frantically even as arrows came at her and she had to dodge. Where had Hiccup gone?! Had he been shot down? Was he hurt? Was Toothless hurt? Where were they?!

“Astrid, we have to go!” That was Snotlout, shouting from behind her.

Growling in frustration, Astrid turned Stormfly around and retreated with the rest of the Dragon Riders.

  
  


Hiccup had Toothless light a torch for him before he went off into the forest. He needed light to see by, which was bad, because then people would be able to tell where he was. He wished  _ he  _ knew where he was. How close was he to the beach where the main attack had taken place?

The next thing Hiccup did was fashion himself a crude crutch from a tree branch. It hurt to hold under his arm, and his ribs didn’t like it, but his ankle very much appreciated it. Then, with torch and crutch, no free hand to draw his sword if he needed, he hobbled off into the forest to search for ingredients, glad that he could remember what they were. He would have to thank Dagur again for the recipe when he next saw him. 

Hiccup stopped to rest in a clearing, and he stared up at the sky. He couldn’t see any dragons, or blasts of fire. He couldn’t hear anything either. It was quiet in the frost-bitten forest save for the occasional scurry of an animal. Was the fighting done, or was he too far away from it? Had his friends been victorious, or had they retreated?

“Gods, this looks so hopeless,” he muttered. Well, for the moment. If he could get Toothless back on his feet, he’d be better off. Then he could get out of here. But for now, he was stuck, and he only had a few hours to work with. He had to make sure that nobody found him. 

Hiccup went back into the forest, cold biting at his hands. He wished he had something warmer to wear, but he hadn’t thought about being stranded. He’d thought the battle would go smoothly and that he’d be warmed by adrenaline the whole way through. Now, adrenaline had worn off, and he was cold and tired. The wound in his side still bled through his shirt and his leather armor. He had nothing to bandage it with.

He found the first ingredient pretty easily, put it into his satchel. The second ingredient was the reddish one that he couldn’t remember the name of. He was careful not to touch it with his hands, setting his crutch aside and getting it into his satchel with his knife. He figured purple oleander would be the harder ingredient to find, especially at night. He had to be extra careful, as night could desaturate colors. If he put blue in the antidote instead of purple, Toothless would just be killed faster. The thought made him shudder.

Hiccup quickly doused his torch when he heard voices, then scrambled under a bush, hoping the sound wouldn’t give him away. 

A ring of light came into view. Hiccup pressed himself flat to the ground. Six booted feet passed by him. 

“I’m sure I hit the Night Fury,” he heard one man say. “Notice how it wasn’t there for the rest of the battle.”

“What if he retreated earlier?”

“Really? The leader would retreat before his other Riders? I don’t think so. Not from what I’ve heard of him.”

One of them stopped, and the other two did as well. Hiccup wanted them to move on.

“What?”

“I smell smoke, like someone blew out a torch or something.”

_ Fuck.  _ Fear made Hiccup’s heart pulse faster.

He could hear a smile in the next man’s words. “Someone’s here who doesn’t want to be found.”

  
  


Astrid paced on the sea stack. It was dangerous that they hadn’t retreated too far from the island. There were ships still intact that could follow them and chase them off if they wanted. 

“We have to go back and find Hiccup,” she said.

“Astrid, it’s too dangerous,” Heather responded. “We’ll be seen.”

“Yeah, and what if he’s hurt out there?” Astrid asked. “What if Toothless is hurt and can’t get them off the island?”

“It’s dark and we won’t be able to see,” Heather pointed out. “We have to wait till dawn and see if they find their own way back.”

Astrid pursed her lips angrily, but Heather was right. They had to wait for dawn, or till Hiccup came to them, whichever came first. 

  
  


The men skirted the area, one of them nearly stepping on Hiccup. He stayed extremely still, hoping he wouldn’t be spotted. He figured it was best to lie low and wait and see whether or not they found him.

But suddenly, he was being grabbed under the arm and hauled out of the bush.

“Found him!” the Hunter cried triumphantly. 

“Let go of me!” Hiccup shouted. He shoved himself away from the man, hopping on his prosthetic, and drew his knife. Before anyone could react, he threw it at the Hunter who had grabbed him. Hiccup had rather good aim, (he had shot down a  _ Night Fury _ , after all), so the knife hit him right in the throat and he went down, gurgling blood. Hiccup drew his sword as the two other Hunters advanced on him.

“Easy now,” one man addressed Hiccup. “We want you alive.”

“What? So you can torture me for information? Not happening.” Hiccup almost fell, still standing on just his prosthetic. 

The man without the lantern rushed him, and Hiccup swung his sword. The man caught the blow on his own, and Hiccup lost his balance and went down to the ground. He twisted, grabbed the stick he’d been using as a torch, and jabbed it at the man as he approached him. The end was still hot, so the man yelped and jumped away as it hit him in the arm. 

Hiccup scrabbled up, crutch in one hand, sword in the other. He realized that he was no match for two Dragon Hunters, not right now, but he had to try.

“Is he even worth this trouble?” the one farthest from Hiccup asked.

“Think of how Viggo will reward us if we bring him to him. Besides, he’s the leader of the Dragon Riders. Of course he’s worth the trouble.”

Hiccup forced out a laugh. “You guys think I’m the leader?”

The both of them looked at him funny. 

“What?” one of them asked.

“Th-that’s General Hofferson,” Hiccup lied. “ _ She’s  _ the leader of the Dragon Riders. I’m just a… just a grunt.”

“So you’re not the one who rides the Night Fury?”

“No.”

“What do you ride then?”

“A Nadder,” Hiccup answered. 

“Pfft, a Nadder’s useless,” one man said to the other. “We get those all the time.”

“ _ He  _ might not be useless though. He knows things.”

“F-fine, I’ll come with you,” Hiccup said. “But just as long as you help me with something.”

“What’s that?”

“Oh, just some herbs I need,” Hiccup said. He gestured towards his ankle. “For pain and all.”

The men exchanged looks. One shrugged.

“Seems fair to me,” said the man who hadn’t shrugged. “What do you need?”

“Purple oleander,” Hiccup said. “Really good for pain.”

“Really? It is?”

Hiccup hobbled up in between the two men so that they would feel like he was indeed going with them. They began walking, Hiccup keeping pace as best as he could. 

“Yeah,” Hiccup answered, breathless from the pain in his ribs and ankle. He couldn’t wait for this ruse to be over and he could go back to Toothless. 

“I know where some of that is. Come on.”

Hiccup let himself be led through the forest, trying to keep track of where he was the whole while. He was surprised that these Hunters were being so cordial with them after he’d killed their friend. Well, maybe he really hadn’t been their friend, not with how they were happy to brush over his death.

They seemed annoyed whenever Hiccup had to stop and take a breather. His ankle was hurting so horribly it almost made his ribs seem like a little tickle. But, he had to keep moving. Toothless needed him, and he needed to get off this island.

It didn’t take them long to come across a patch of purple oleander, which Hiccup was extremely grateful for. He just held his crutch and bent over to pick some, putting them into his saddlebag. No one had questioned him about what he had in there. He just needed one more thing for the antidote.

Hiccup wiped his brow. “Whew, do you guys have any water? I’m pretty parched.”

“We’ll give it to you after we have your dragon.”

“Mm, then I won’t show you where my dragon is.”

The other man rolled his eyes. “Oh, just give it to him.”

One man took a waterskin off his belt and handed it to Hiccup. Hiccup took it without a thank you, began to drink a little just to keep up his ruse. Then he capped it, was about to give it back, but instead dropped it and drew his sword. He didn’t like killing, but he managed to slice through the man’s neck before he could react and draw his own weapon. He stumbled back, hands to his throat, blood gushing through his fingers. Then he toppled over, leaving Hiccup with just the one Hunter to take care of.

“Hey! You said you’d come with us!”

Hiccup shrugged. “Yeah, I lied.”

The man lunged at him, taking him down to the ground, and his sword fell out of his hand. His head hit the ground and he could only lay there stunned for a moment. He came back to himself with the man punching him in his injured ribs. Hiccup choked, lost his breath, pain flailing through his body, leaving him helpless.

The man punched him again, and Hiccup felt a crack. He managed to scream this time. He struggled, and in his struggling realized that the man was straddling him and leaving a very vulnerable place open. He kneed him between the legs. 

The man yelled fell off of him, and Hiccup grabbed the knife at his belt, rolled so that he was on top of him.

“Oh, and just so you know, I am the leader of the Dragon Riders.”

Unable to help feeling pleased with himself at the surprised, but pained look on the man’s face, Hiccup stabbed him in the chest. That part he was far less pleased about, but he’d had to do it. 

He crawled away from the man to grab his sword, breaths ragged, hurting in his chest. Whatever damage had been done to his ribs, this man had worsened it. Putting a hand to the wound showed that he was bleeding in earnest again.

“Dammit,” he muttered. He found his sword, sheathed it on his back, took the waterskin, and put it in his satchel. He picked up the lantern that had fallen, glad it hadn’t broken. Then he was retrieving his crutch and pulling himself back up, as much as it hurt to do so. Once he was on his prosthetic, all he could do was lean on his crutch and try to breathe. Gods, did it hurt.

“Okay, Toothless,” Hiccup panted out. “I’m coming back to you.”

  
  


His dragon was unconscious, but breathing, upon his return. It had been a hard trek back with his ribs in a worse state, but he’d made it. After carefully setting down the ingredients, he went about making a fire. He was relieved once he was sitting down in front of a pot of boiling water, glad he’d thought to bring the thing with him. 

“Hey, Toothless.” Hiccup nudged him awake, and Toothless looked at him with glazed eyes. “I’m making the antidote. Don’t you worry.”

Toothless moaned, laid his head on his paws, but kept his eyes open, watching Hiccup as he tore up the ingredients, put them into the water, and stirred them with a stick. He was glad that Toothless was still able to stay conscious, that he had clearly just been resting earlier.

Toothless reacted the same way he had the first time Hiccup had ever given him this, with roaring and flailing, but Hiccup did his best not to panic. He knew now that that meant it was working. It must just be unpleasant. 

Luckily, the sound didn’t seem to give away their position, as Hiccup was able to wait twenty minutes for Toothless to perk up without anyone coming upon them. 

_ Thank the gods,  _ Hiccup thought as Toothless lifted his head and looked at him. His eyes were sharp and clear. He seemed to be doing just as well as he could after being shot with an arrow. Luckily, he was no longer under the effect of the Dragon Root.

“Okay, bud, let’s get out of here.”

Hauling himself up onto Toothless with a broken ankle wasn’t exactly fun, but Hiccup was glad once it was over with. Now, he could fly back to his friends.

  
  


Hiccup was grateful when he saw his friends on a sea stack not too far from the island. The sun was beginning to rise, and he wanted to be away from there when light broke.

“Hiccup!” his friends called as he landed. They all crowded around him, but he didn’t get off of Toothless. Then he would just have to go through the ordeal of mounting him again.

“What happened?” Astrid asked. “You look like Hel.”

“Feel like it too,” Hiccup answered. “Guessing none of you guys saw us go down.”

The Dragon Riders gave no’s and shook their heads.

“We noticed you’d somehow vanished when we were retreating,” Tuffnut said. “And Heather said it would be stupid to go back for you while it was dark.”

Hiccup looked all around at his friends, wondering if they were hurt from the battle since they’d called a retreat. Everyone appeared to be fine.

“I’m sorry, guys,” he said. He didn’t feel bad about their decision to wait for light. “I didn’t realize this place was so heavily armed. We shouldn’t have attacked it like we did.”

“It’s okay, Hiccup,” Astrid told him. “We’ll just get back to the Edge and plan some more.”

“Yeah, can that wait?” Hiccup asked. “I’m pretty badly hurt.”

“Of course that can wait,” Fishlegs said. “Let’s go home.”

Hiccup couldn’t remember a time he’d been so happy to hear those words.


End file.
